Weighted wristband



I Jan. 20, 1970 F. ARCH-ER 3,490,763

WEIGHTED WRISTBAND 7 Filed Oct. 10, 1968 O 30 I6 INVENTOR.

Fig 4 FRANK ARCHER United States Patent O 3,490,768 WEIGHTED WRISTBAND Frank Archer, 7826 Prospect Place, La Jolla, Calif. 92116 Filed Oct. 10, 1968, Ser. No. 766,397 Int. Cl. A63b 71/14, 57/00 US. Cl. 273-32 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to sports equipment and specifically to a weighted wristband.

Various means have been used to weight the hand for exercise purposes, or to add inertia to the hand, the weights being held by straps or incorporated into a sleeve or glove. One use of a hand weight is to add power to the swing of a golf club, particularly in driving. The usual weight elements are not completely comfortable and are somewhat cumbersome and tend to restrict the hand, and these prior are items involve weights, fixed relative to the glove or hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The weighted wristband described herein includes a specially shaped strap and is worn as snug as possible around the wrist without being uncomfortable and has a pouch which rests on the back of the hand, full freedom of the hand being retained with no restriction or obstruction to the normal grip. In the pouch are loose weight elements which are freely movable, certain elements holding the pouch walls apart to allow the weights to move.

When a driving stroke is made, the additional weight and the motion of the weight due to gravity and centrifugal force add considerably to the power and directivity of the stroke, so increasing the driving range.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the complete wristband;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing the wristband in place on a hand;

FIGURE 3 is a composite view showing the weight action as the hand swings; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 44 of FIGURE 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The wristband carries a pouch and comprises straps 12 and 14 extending from opposite sides of the panel, all elements being preferably made from pliable material, such as suede leather, which is comfortable to wear. Other materials may be used, with any suitable finish or decoration.

Pouch 10 has a bottom wall or panel 16 and a top wall or panel 18, secured together by peripheral stitching 20. While the specific shape of the pouch is not particularly critical, the truncated teardrop configuration shown has been found desirable, since this allows the weight to con- 3,490,768 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 ice centrate in the most effective manner. Straps 12 and 14 are stitched between the pouch panels at the narrow or rear end and extend outwardly and rearwardly longitudinally of the wrist, from the sides 22 in a shallow V configuration. By inclining the straps in this manner they will wrap around the wrist for sufiiciently definite placement, yet without necessarily being tight enough to cause restriction or discomfort. The pouch extends well forward toward the knuckles and rests normally on the back of the hand, as in FIGURES 2 and 3. Various fastening means may be used to secure the straps around the wrist, the arrangement shown using snap fastener elements 24 on one strap 12 and the complementary snap elements 26 on the other strap 14.

In the pouch 10 are weight elements of two sizes, small elements 28 and large elements 30, as shown in FIGURE 4. The small elements 28 are lead pellets and the large elements 30 are steel shot in a preferred form. By using two sizes of weight elements, the large ones hold the panels or walls of the pouch apart sufliciently to ensure free initiation of motion of the small elements, and these, in turn help to initiate movement in the larger elements, so that weight elements move quickly and easily in the pliable pouch.

With the wristband in place and the hand raised, as in the upper portion of FIGURE 3, the loose weight elements tend to collect at what may be designated the rear of the pouch, as indicated by bulge 32. When the hand is lowered, as in the lower portion of FIGURE 3, the weight elements move to the front indicated by bulge 34. In playing golf, the hand wearing the wristband is raised in the backswing and the weight elements gravitate to said rear of the pouch. In the downswing this hand swings rapidly down during the stroke, as diagrammatically indicated by the directional arrow. The weight elements are thus thrown to the front of the pouch, by centrifugal force due to the greater speed of the downswing, combined with the force of gravity acting upon the mass of the weight elements, to produce a whip action augmenting the force of the swing. Obviously, the hereindescribed invention will not greatly aid in securing proper address, distance judgement and other skill components but it has been demonstrated that directivity is improved with the use of this item, possibly due to the inertia of the weight elements improving the follow-through of the swing. Use of the item has been shown to represent good training procedure in both wood and iron shots. It has been found that as little as two or three ounces of weight has a very noticable effect on the power of a stroke, so the wristband need not be uncomfortably heavy and, as stated hereinbefore, the shaping of the wristband makes it unnecessary for it to be tight upon the wrist.

The hand is completely free and unobstructed, so that any normal grip may be used, and the pliable pouch conforms to the shape of the back of the hand, making it feasible to wear the wristband throughout a game. However, the snap fasteners make it a simple matter to remove the wristband for putting if desired.

It is undertsood that minor variation from the form of the invention disclosed herein may be made without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the specification and drawing are to be considered as merely illustrative rather than limiting.

I claim:

1. Golf equipment comprising:

a wristband securable to the wrist of a golfer;

a closed pouch having a first rear part secured to said wristband and extending a short distance away therefrom to a second front part adapted to rest on the back of the hand when said wristband is secured to a golfers wrist;

weight elements contained in said pouch;

means for permitting said weight elements to shift in said pouch from said first part to said second part when the wrist is moved during the execution of a swing with a golf club;

the mass and freedom of movement of said weight elements being such that the movement of said weight elements from said first part of said second part during the execution of said swing augments the force of the swing.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said pouch has top and bottom walls of pliable material, and said pouch contains means to hold the walls of the pouch apart for free movement of said weight elements.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein said weight elements are of two sizes and the larger elements comprise the means to hold the pouch walls apart to facilitate movement of the weight elements by assuring initiation of such movement in the smaller of said weight elements.

4. The structure of claim 1, wherein said wristband includes strap means extending from said pouch angularly in a direction such that the pouch may be held in a position over the back of a hand substantially forward from the wrist when said strap means is secured to the wrist.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 19,814 3/1858 Monestier 27267 2,187,987 1/1940 Sherrick 2-l6() 2,191,683 2/ 1940 Roberts 273-183 3,149.839 9/1964 Materia 27354 3,298,689 1/1967 Santora 27354 3,301,559 1/1967 Jolley 27354 3,369,258 2/1968 Smith 2159 GEORGE J. MARLO, Primary Examiner US, Cl. X.R.

PRINTER'S TRlh UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,490,768 Dated January 20, I970 Inventorfifi) Frank Archer It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In Column 3, line 8 the word "of" should be --fo-- SIGNED AND SEALED JUN 16 1970 (SEAL) Amt:

Edmmnmj" mm x. 505mm. Attesfing Officer commissioner of Paton FORM PO-OSO (10-69! USCOMM-DC c0370- U 5, GOVERNMENT PRINTUIG OFFICE I 0-3. 

